Asia stocks meander following gains last week

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Last Updated: Mon, Jan 07, 2013 03:45 hrs

Asian stocks meandered without strong direction Monday, as some investors sold shares to lock in profits following recent rallies.

Stocks in Hong Kong, Australian and elsewhere surged last week after U.S. lawmakers passed a bill to avoid a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases that have come to be known as the "fiscal cliff." Japan's Nikkei 225 got an additional boost from the yen's steady retreat against the dollar.

On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said employers added 155,000 jobs in December, showing that hiring held up during the tense fiscal negotiations in Washington. It also said hiring was stronger in November than first thought. The unemployment rate held steady at 7.8 percent.

"This result reinforced the consensus view that the US (labor) market is slowly but surely healing itself," Evan Lucas of IG Markets in Melbourne wrote in an email commentary.